Staar Surgical Company of Monrovia, Calif. produces deformable intraocular lens for implantation into the eye. These deformable intraocular lens are preferably implanted into the eye by use of a lens injecting apparatus. The lens injecting apparatus currently in use comprises two (2) separate components including 1) a lens injecting device including a cylindrical barrel having a lens cartridge receiver and a movable plunger disposed with the cylindrical barrel; and 2) a lens cartridge including a lens holding portion connected to a nozzle portion.
The movable plunger of the lens injecting device includes a tip for forcing a deformable intraocular lens loaded into the lens cartridge through a delivery passageway extending through the lens cartridge and out of the tip of the nozzle portion of the lens cartridge. Thus, when the tip of the nozzle portion is inserted through a small size incision made in the eye, the deformable intraocular lens exits the tip of the nozzle portion into the eye.
The movable plunger of the lens injecting device is slidable through an initial length of movement of the plunger, and then is threadedly advanced through a final length of movement of the plunger when forcing the deformable intraocular lens through the delivery passageway of the lens cartridge.
The lens injecting device including the plunger is made of titanium, plastic or stainless steel and the lens cartridge is made of plastic. The metal tip of the plunger has a fixed configuration. Specifically, the tip has a faceted configuration including a concave gripping surface portion and other surface portions defining the fixed geometry of the plunger tip.